Safety belt buckle

ABSTRACT

A SAFETY SEAT BELT BUCKLE HAVING A BASE PLATE AND A COVER PLATE MOVABLY SECURED TOGETHER, HAVING MEANS FOR CONNECTING ONE END OF A SEAT BELT TO THE BUCKLE AND A LATCH FOR RELEASABLY CONNECTING THE OTHER END THERETO, THE LATCH BEING ACTUATED BY LIFTING EITHER END OF THE COVER PLATE RELATIVE TO THE BASE PLATE.

Jan. 19, 1971 I PAUL 3,555,633

SAFETY BELT BUCKLE Filed Aug. 1.5, 1968 mam??? w /0 29 L I I /0 f i 1 16. 6. //v MENTOR KORCH/NSK/ NICHOLAS PAUL 5y HIS ATTORNEYS Haze/s, A7501, Russau dc/fisew United States Patent 3,555,633 SAFETY BELT BUCKLE Korchinski Nicholas Paul, Pasadena, Calif., assignor to Eon Corporation, Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of California Filed Aug. 15, 1968, Ser. No. 752,955 Int. Cl. A44b 11/29 US. Cl. 24-230 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A safety seat belt buckle having a base plate and a cover plate movably secured together, having means for connecting one end of a seat belt to the buckle and a latch for releasably connecting the other end thereto, the latch being actuated by lifting either end of the cover plate relative to the base plate.

Conventional safety seat belt buckles are usually made for solid, but adjustable, connection to one end of a seat belt and having connecting means for receiving and retaining the free end of the belt, the connecting means being releasable by the user to permit ready disengagement of the connecting means with the free end of the belt. Such connecting means and the means for actuating the same are of two basic types, first, a buckle in which the user lifts one end of a plate on the buckle to operate the connecting means to permit disengagement of the free end of the belt, or, second, a buckle in which the user presses a button to so operate the connecting means. Both such conventional types of buckles have disadvantages. For example, with the first type it is sometimes difficult and confusing for a lay user to locate quickly and accurately the proper end of the movable plate to lift to disconnect the connecting means. With the second type, lay use-rs frequently have difficulty in finding and knowing how to operate the button for disconnecting the connecting means.

It is a primary object of this invention to provide a seat belt buckle which will obviate the disadvantages of conventional seat belt buckles. I accomplish this by providing a buckle having a movable plate connected to such a connecting means, in which either end of the plate may be lifted by the user to operate the connecting means, eliminating much of the confusion experienced by users with conventional buckles. The advantage of this type of release will be most apparent in an otherwise survivable crash situation when the passenger is dazed or injured or both. This ability to actuate with either hand from either end may well save valuable seconds which can easily spell the difference between life and death of the wearer.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a safety seat belt buckle which is simple, cheap to manufacture, foolproof in operation, and which will provide a strong, but readily releasable,connection between the ends of a safety seat belt.

Other objects will appear from the following specificat on and the drawing, which are for the purposes of illustration only, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the buckle of the invention, with the free end of a safety seat belt disconnected therefrom;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on the line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 44 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view similar to FIG. 3, but showing the parts in one disconnect position;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5, but showing the parts in an alternative disconnect position.

Referring to the drawing, FIG. 1 shows a safety seat belt buckle 10 adapted to be connected to a safety seat belt means having an end 11 which is adjustably but rigidily connected to the buckle and a free end 12 which is adapted to be quickly and releasably connected and disconnected to the buckle. The ends 11 and 12 may be ends of a continuous seat belt, or they may be ends of separate belts, as desired. The free end 12 has rigidly connected thereto a metal plate 13 provided with an abutment 14, which is conventional.

The buckle 10 includes a base plate 16 having a pair of inner flanges 17 parallel to each other and perpendicular to the major portion of the base plate. Each of the flanges 17 is provided with a slot 18, which slots are transversely aligned and receive a lift bar 19 movable therein and around which is wrapped the end 11 of the seat belt means, as is conventional, the end 11 passing through an opening 20in the base plate 16.

Each of the inner flanges 17 is: also provided with a slot 22 which is perpendicular to the base plate 16, such slots being transversely aligned. Rigidly connected between the inner flanges 17 is an axle 23 upon which is rotatably mounted a latch means or catch 24 which includes a retractor or leg 25 and a detent 26.

The buckle 10 also includes a cover plate 28 having ends 29 and 30, preferably curved downwardly as illustrated. The cover plate 28 is provided with a pair of downwardly extending outer flanges 31 which extend downwardly over and enclose the inner flanges 17 of the base plate 16. Rigidly secured to and extending between the outer flanges 31 is a pin means 32 which extends through the vertical slots 22. The leg 25 of the latch means 24 rides on the top of the pin means 32 and is biased thereagainst by a strap spring 33 the ends 34 of which are carried in the slots 22. In operation, the spring 33 normally biases the latch means 24 to the position illustrated in FIG. 3.

To connect the free end 12 of the seat belt means to the buckle 10, the metal plate 13 is moved from the position illustrated in FIG. 2 to that illustrated in FIG. 3. The pin 32 limits angular movement of the latch means 24 and holds the latch means so that its central knuckle portion beneath the axle 23 forms with the base plate 16 a guideway for the entering end of the latch plate 13. The nose of the metal latch plate then rotates the latch means 24 in a clockwise direction so that the abutment 14 passes beyond the detent 26, at which time the spring rotates the latch means in a counterclockwise direction so that the detent snaps in behind the abutment to prevent the free end 12 of the seat belt from being pulled out of the buckle and rigidly retains the same therein. The pin 32 remains at the bottom of the recess 22; accordingly,

the cover plate 28 does not move relative to the base plate.

This allows the user to hold the buckle with an encompassing undisturbed grip while the latch plate 13 is inserted.

When it is desired to release the metal plate 13 and free end .12 from the buckle 10 the left-hand end 30 of the cover plate 28 may be raised to the position shown in FIG. 5, which raises the pin means 32 which rotates the leg 25 and latch means 24, against the biasing force of the spring 33 and raises the detent 26 out of engagement 'with the abutment 14 to permit the metal plate and free end 12 to be removed from the buckle and disconnected therefrom. Alternatively, the right-hand end 29 of the cover plate 28 may be raised to the position shown in FIG. 6 which likewise disengages the detent 26 from the 0 abutment 14 in exactly the same way as occurs when in FIG. 5, the right-hand end 29 of the cover plate bears against the adjacent curved ends of the inner flanges 17 to provide, in eflect, a bearing between the cover plate and the base plate for rotation of the cover plate with respect thereto. Similarly, in the operation illustrated in FIG. 6, the left-hand end 30 of the cover ptate 28 bears against the adjacent ends of the inner flanges 17 of the base plate 16 to similarly provide a bearing therebetween for such rotation of the cover plate relative to the base plate.

Although I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that I do not intend to be limited thereto, but desire to be aiforded the full scope of the following claims:

I claim:

1. In a seat buckle structure:

(a) a buckle member having provisions for connection to a belt web;

(b) a latch plate member having provisions for connection to a belt web;

(0) said buckle member having companion case parts defining an opening at one end for reception of said latch plate;

((1) a catch member mounted on one of said case parts for movement about a pivot axis and having a part opposed to and spaced from said one case part to define a limited clearance guideway for insertion of said latch plate member, said catch member having a part extending inwardly of said opening relative to its pivot axis to be engaged by said latch plate member as said latch plate member is inserted into said buckle member; said catch member also having a retractor part;

(e) a lift bar;

(f) means mounting said lift bar substantially centrally of said buckle member and inwardly beyond said pivot axis for limited movement transverse to the buckle member;

(g) said catch member retractor part engaging said lift bar only on one side of said lift bar so that movement of said lift bar away from one limited position causes angular movement of said catch member to latch-releasing position and so that angular move- 4 ment of said catch member caused by entering movement of said latch plate member is ineffective to move said lift bar away from its said one limited position;

(h) the other of said companion case parts comprising a buckle cap having a floating mounting on the said one of said case parts by connection only to said lift bar; said buckle cap having parts located on opposite sides of said lift bar and extending downwardly toward said one case part in partially encompassing relationship respectively to the opposite ends of said one case part whereby one of said ends operates selectively as a fulcrum point for lifting said lift bar as a second class lever system upon manual operation of the other end of said buckle cap and whereby said cap parts are shielded from accidental engagement;

(i) a single spring engaging said catch member for moving it into latching position and into following engagement with said lift bar;

(j) said lift bar forming a stop for limiting the movement of said catch member toward said one case part and to limit the angular movement of said catch member required to achieve latching relationship;

(k) movement of said latch plate member into latching relationship lifting said retractor part without movement of said lift bar whereby said buckle can be grasped with an undisturbed grip during such movement.

2. The seat buckle structure as set forth in claim 1 in which said lift bar is mounted in aligned slots formed on flanges on opposite sides of said first case part; said single spring comprising a bow spring having ends mounted in the said aligned slots respectively.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS BERNARD A. GELAK, Primary Examiner 

